Money compartment unit for doors



Sept. 23, 1958 s. E. YORGEY ErAL MONEYCOMPARTMENT UNIT FOR DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMay- 14, 1956 INVENTORS. kQmnwlli?)hrgss'g and myrtlelflaryey Sept. 23, 1958 s. E. YORGEY ETAL MONEY COMPARTMENT UNIT FOR DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14, 1956 INVENTORS.

JamuelEYbrgeg and BY Myrt/elflrgey.

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United States Patent MONEY COMPARTMENT UNIT FOR DOORS Samuel E Yorgey and Myrtle Yorgey, Reading, Pa.

Application May 14, 1956, Serial No. 584,589

' i 1 Claim. (Cl. 232-7434 This invention relates to a money compartment unit for mounting on an outside door and, more particularly, to a compartmented unit having a plurality of separate compartments or enclosures that can be individually loeked to insure privacy of use by particular individuals andfrom the outside of the door.

The purpose of the present invention is to save an enormous amount of wasted time on the part of sales men, bill collectors, milkmen, paper boys and the like in collecting their hills, which are usually in small amounts; Very frequently, the housewife is absent when a bill collector calls, therefore necessitating one or more return trips which consume a considerable amount of time on the part of the bill collector. Also the housewife, knowing that a bill collector will call at a certain time, feels under compulsion to remain at home to pay him at a time when she may have other urgent things to do away from home. a i

An object of our invention is to provide a novel compartmented box for mounting in a slot formed in an out- .side door, which box has a plurality of individual compartments which may be individually locked by difierent keys, so that each of the compartments may be accessible only by one person having the particular key and permitting the deposit, in the separate compartments, of different amounts of money necessary for the payment of current bills, such as a weekly bill, to the paper boy, milkman, laundryman and others.

A further object of our invention is to provide a compartmented money depository unit which is made of relatively simple and inexpensive parts which can be cheaply manufactured and which can be easily and quickly installed on a door, also which unit is relatively tamperproof so as to prevent pilfering.

Another object of our invention is to provide a money storing compartment which is combined in a novel way with a letter slot to form a single unit which can be readily mounted in a single door slot and which presents an attractive appearance and serving the dual purpose of a letter slot and depository for money or other small articles.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a compartmented money storing unit as viewed from the outside of a door on which it is mounted, showing the outside cover and one of the small doors of the individual compartments in the open position and embodying the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the unit shown in Figure 1 as viewed from the inside of the door, showing the inside cover in the open position;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of compartmented unit which includes a letter or mail slot, which unit is shown mounted on a door, portion of which is illustrated in dash outline; and

Patented Sept. 23, 1958 Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the unit shown in Figure 3.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a sheet metal frame of rectangular outline, having an outwardly and downwardly bent top portion 2 which prevents entry of rain into the unit. Pivotally mounted thereon, by means of hinges 3 at the bottom of plate 1, is an outside cover or door 4 having a lock 5, such as a conventional barrel lock, mounted thereon which is adapted to project through a slot 6 formed in the top of frame 1 and enabling the locking or unlocking of cover 4 when swung to the vertical position in contiguous relationship to frame 1.

Integrally'mounted on the back of plate 1, at right angles thereto to form a box-like structure therewith, is a metal strip 7 bent into rectangular shape. The space surrounded by strip 7 is subdivided into a plurality of separate compartments or individual boxes by means of a plurality of vertical strips or plates 8. And each separate compartment or box is provided with an individual door, such as 9, pivotally mounted on frame 1 by hinges 10, and each having an individual lock 11 which can be opened by a key, such as shown in dotted outline.

The rectangular plate or frame 1 and strip 7 are integrally secured, together preferably by welding, soldering or the like so as to be devoid of any screws or similar easily detached connecting means that may encourage tampering.

In order to mount the unit on a door, a slot is formed in the door just slightly greater in size and correspond-- ing in shape to the perimeter of strip 7 so that strip 7 may be snugly fit into the slot. Thereafter a rear rectangular plate or frame 13 is secured to a perimetrical flanged portion of strip 7, such as by means of screws 14 which are screw threaded to the flanged portion. Frame 13 may be further secured to the inside surface of the door by means of screws 15. An inside cover or door 16 is pivotally mounted by means of hinges 17 to the bottom edge of frame 13, and the door 16 preferably has mounted thereon a lock 18 which is insertable into a hole 19 formed on the top portion of frame 13, whereby the inside door 16 may be selectively locked or unlocked as desired to prevent access to children. Of course, if desired, lock 18 may be omitted and replaced by a conventional latch.

In operation, after the compartmented unit is mounted on an outside door, it will be apparent that various outsiders can gain access to the particular compartments or boxes assigned to them, by first unlocking the lock 5 and then by unlocking the lock 11 of the assigned bin or box. Of course, the various locks 11 have dilierent keys so that only one of them can be opened by a particular individual, say, for example, the milkma r. it is desirable to have lock 5 openable by any of the keys that can open locks 11 so as to permit each of the bill collectors to open both the outside door 4 and his individual door 9 by a single key. Lock 5 can be omitted, it desired, and replaced by a simple spring latch of conventional construction.

Thus when the housewife wishes to leave money for paying a particular collector she will open the inside door 16 and deposit the money in the particular compartment assigned to him. Thereafter, while the housewife is busy with household duties and does not wish to be disturbed, or even when she is absent from home, the bill collector may unlock the outside door 4 and the individual door 9 for his particular compartment so as to pick up the money, and perhaps leave change in the same compartment.

Of course, the unit described is not confined to holding money but may serve to hold notes of instruction, small objects, packages etc.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modification of the unit embodying the present invention and of substantially the same construction as that shown in Figures 1 and 2, except that a letter slot portion 21 is appended to the bottom thereof and forms part of a single unit. In this instance, frames 1a and 23a are made wider and extended downwardly, and a slot 22 is formed therethrough which is substantially in registry with a substantially rectangularly bent strip 23 which extends along the interior surface of the slot, and through which letters L may he slid from the outside to the inside of the door as shown in Figure 4. Thus the unit eliminates the necessity of a separate slot for use as a mail slot and enables both the compartmented money storing unit and letter slot to be combined into a single, attractive unit serving a dual purpose and mounted in a single slot in the door. If desired, the outside door or cover of the unit may be extended so as to cover the outside opening of the letter slot by being pivotally mounted on the bottom portion below slot 22.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided an efiicient compartmented unit for mounting in the slot of an outside door, which unit is extremely useful in that it saves an amazingly great amount of time on the part of the housewife and bill collectors who would othewise have to make frequent return trips to collect bills, and which unit overcomes this difficulty by providing separate, locked boxes or compartments which are accessible only by particular individuals who can gain access by the use of a key; furthermore we have provided a money storing compartment unit which is made of relatively simple and inexpensive sheet metal parts, cheaply manufactured and assembled and which can be easily and quickly mounted on a door without the necessity of skilled laboralso which presents an extremely attractive appearance as well as affording security and preventing pilfering by unauthorized persons or by children.

While we have illustrated and described two specific embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various 4 changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of our invention and within the scope of the following claim.

We claim:

In combination with a door having a rectangular slot extending transversely and substantially centrally therethrough, a money storing and letter slot unit mounted in said slot and comprising a strip of sheet metal bent into the form of a rectangle, snugly fitting in the top portion of said slot and having a plurality of spaced vertically extending partitions therein for providing a plurality of separate compartments in side-by-side relationship, a second strip of sheet metal bent into the form of a rectangle and snugly fitting in the bottom portion of said slot, a pair of rectangular frames extending in spaced, parallel planes and Secured to opposite edges of said strips, said frames being located on the outside and inside surfaces of said door and being of substantially greater outside perimeter than said assembled bent strips,

at least one of said frames being provided with spaced openings through which screws may be inserted, each'of, said compartments having a door pivotally mounted on the outside of said first mentioned door at substantially an inner edge of the corresponding outside frame and having a separate lock, a door mounted on said last mentioned frame and covering all of said compartment doors, and an inside door pivotally mounted on said inside frame for closing said compartments from the inside of said first mentioned door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 693,770 Wright Feb. 18, 1902 1,179,818 Frumer Apr. 18,1916 2,163,356 Solberg June 20, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 422,682 Great Britain Jan. 16, 1935 

